Walter Johnson High School is full of pride and spirit when it comes to school sports, accomplishments and events like Prom and Homecoming. Before every fall, winter and spring season, the SGA plans an extravagant pep rally to get students excited about the upcoming sports.
These pep rallies often showcase fun games like tug-of-war and musical chairs. The students who are watching are dressed according to their class colors: red, black, green and white. Students on teams active during the appropriate season are grouped and announced before team captains present their seniors and first home games to come. Students who are a part of the teams often coordinate fun and unique costume themes to wear to school and the rally, getting creative with themes like the Wild West, movies, seasons and more.
During the fall pep rally held in the turf stadium, students gather in the bleachers under the warm August sun and enjoy each other’s presence. They are just returning from summer break and are eager to cheer on the Wildcats Football team in the coming week. Key events like the underclassmen vs. upperclassmen tug-of-war get students on their toes and excited to kick off the school year.
On the other hand, the winter pep rally held in the gymnasium is limited in space. This causes the rally to be held three different times during the day to accommodate all of WJ’s 3,000+ students. This means not all students and friends get to enjoy the rally together, but instead are split into separate pep rally groups.
“The gym pep rally is alright. I didn’t enjoy it as much though because I did not have the same period as a lot of my friends and it was really packed,” senior Connor McGee said.
A key fixture of the winter pep rally has been musical chairs. Students found this game extremely exciting and on par with the fall pep rally’s tug-of-war. But, as of 2023, the musical chairs tradition has been banned from future pep rallies, taking away a huge part of winter rallies that plenty of students looked forward to.
“The musical chairs used to be so entertaining. It may have gotten a little out of hand but that’s a part of it all. It was the best part of the rally,” junior Henry Koenick said.
The hype and excitement surrounding the fall pep rally definitely exceeds that of the winter and spring pep rallies because it has more spirit games, better weather and is enjoyed by the entire school in one place.
Solutions to the jam-packed school gym and three separate rallies are limited since a stadium rally in November would force students to stand in the bitter cold. Due to WJ’s growing student population, the winter pep rally is always nothing short of chaotic and in need of improvement.
